Competition within the airline industry has become exceptionally fierce since the airlines were deregulated in the early 1980s. All of the major airlines are continuously looking for new ways to attract passengers.
One way in which to attract passengers is to offer new and more exciting modes of in-flight passenger entertainment. One such new mode of entertainment is a video game system.
The problem with providing video games to individual passengers is that there is no ideal place to store the video game monitor. Some airlines have taken to installing the monitor in the back of the seat facing the passenger. This installation, however, places the video screen too far away from the user and the video screen is difficult to see when the seat is tilted backwards.
It has been proposed to store the video monitor in the armrest between the seats, especially between the large seats in first class sections. However, this requires some method of moving the video monitor from the armrest to a position where it can be viewed. To date, no such system has been devised which is fully satisfactory.
One system for storing the video monitor in the armrest uses a simple universal joint hinge affixed to the armrest at the upper, forward-most corner. The monitor is affixed to this hinge by a short attachment rod. The monitor is folded downwardly into a slot within the armrest when it is not in use, and then folded back upwardly when use is desired. Unfortunately, it has been found that the distance between the armrest and the rear of the next seat forward of the user is insufficient to allow an attachment rod of sufficient length for adequately displaying the monitor. Therefore, this system is not practical.
Track mechanisms are used in other applications to move an object between two locations. However, such track mechanisms are generally complex and expensive and/or are prone to binding or otherwise not operating smoothly. No track mechanism has as yet been proposed which is satisfactory for moving a video monitor into and out of an airliner armrest.
Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism which can be used for applications such as moving a video monitor from within the armrest of an aircraft seat to a position where it is conveniently used by a passenger, wherein the mechanism is not unduly expensive, complicated to manufacture or maintain and wherein the mechanism is not prone to binding or otherwise operating in a non-smooth manner.